Pitino at Louisville behind his UK pace

When Hartford visits Louisville's Freedom Hall on Saturday night, Rick Pitino will officially begin his seventh season -- where does the time go? -- as head coach of the Louisville Cardinals.

In his seventh year as head man of the Kentucky Wildcats, Pitino won the national championship.The coach has clearly elevated Louisville basketball from where it was when he inherited the program. Yet, through six years, "Louisville Pitino" is lagging behind "Kentucky Pitino."

In the four seasons before Pitino, Louisville went a combined 62-62. The final four years of Denny Crum's Louisville tenure produced two losing seasons (a 12-20 and a 12-19) and no NCAA tournament wins.

Under Pitino, Louisville has never failed to win at least 19 games in a season. In 2005, Pitino ended what had been an 18-year Final Four drought for Louisville.

In his first six seasons at UK, Pitino won 77.7 percent of his games, and that includes the 14-14 record he compiled in his first year at Kentucky when he inherited a roster ravaged by NCAA probation. In his first six years at Louisville, Pitino won 71 percent.

Over his first six seasons at Kentucky, Pitino was 11-4 in NCAA tournament games.

Over his first six seasons at Louisville, Pitino was 6-4 in the Big Dance.

During his first six years at UK, Pitino advanced to the Final Four once and played in the Elite Eight three times, even though his first two UK teams were banned from the NCAA tournament by probation.

During the coach's first six seasons at Louisville, the 2005 Final Four run is the only time Louisville has advanced past the NCAAs' first weekend.